Monday, December 31, 2007

The man perhaps responsible for exposing the drug issue in baseball and changing the game forever is about to make another foray into the publishing world.

Jose Canseco is following up "Juiced", with a new book, "Vindicated", which will allegedly put more names out in the open of players that might have used PED's.

Oh joy.

However, he has been right so far in his crusade (self-serving or not), and no one has come up to the plate to take legal action against him.

From AOL: The new book, with the working title "Vindicated", will arrive in bookstores on Opening Day 2008, Canseco's lawyer Robert Saunooke told the New York Post and the Daily News.

Saunooke said the book would accuse ballplayers not named in former Sen. George Mitchell's report of using performance-enhancing drugs.

"We had hoped that the Mitchell Report would have been more revealing," Saunooke said. "It basically ended up being nothing more than (Mitchell saying), 'I talked to a lot of people, some wouldn't talk to me and it's up to the commissioner."'

Canseco tried to get into the Dec. 13 New York news conference where the Mitchell Report was released, but was barred by Major League Baseball officials who said it was a "media only" event.

He later told Fox Business Network, "I saw the list of players, and there are definitely a lot of players missing."

Saunooke would not say which current or former major leaguers would be identified as steroid users in the new book.

The book will be co-written by former Sports Illustrated reporter Don Yaeger; the Post said the publisher would be Penguin Books.

Canseco was one of the first ballplayers to admit using steroids in Juiced. There, he gave specific names of other players who allegedly used, including former Oakland A's teammate Mark McGwire. McGwire has denied using steroids.

***

Sorry for my absence, I went to see the Patriots-Giants game on Saturday night at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, and then I spent all Sunday driving down the New Jersey Turnpike, sleeping and trying to find a damned Nintendo Wii for a family member (which I could find none of). Oh well, I guess I am going to get ripped off on Ebay or wait until mid-winter for one.